Harj Taggar - Choosing a Startup to Work At

TL;DR

Working at a startup means trading higher pay and stability for less money and more work; if you are content where you are, do not switch. When choosing a startup, think like an investor: evaluate signs of success (especially growth trajectory), the founders (based on relative outperformance rather than credentials), and the intensity of early user love rather than trying to gauge market size.

Key insights

• Paul Buhayt (early Google engineer and YC partner) advises that if you are happy in your current role and lack a strong desire to change, you will likely get paid less and work more at a startup, so s
• When assessing a startup’s success, focus on the growth trajectory of its metrics (e.g., revenue) rather than absolute numbers; a startup with $10k/month that grew from $5k the previous month is more
• Evaluate founders by how well they have performed relative to their peer group and starting point, not by traditional credentials (school, past employers). A 19-year-old from Milwaukee who raised a se